Chapter 607

Found the target?

So what?

The impact of this matter has already spread!

"Immediately arrange public relations, and summon the Joint Council's general assembly."

General assembly?!

Qiu Dugu's pupils shrank slightly, unable to help but say: "Has it really become this serious?"

"The 【Deviation Line】 is skyrocketing—players, upon learning the truth, are no longer entering the game to boost their strength. When the day foretold by the cheaters arrives, what will humanity do? What will the world do!? And given this rate of increase, we might not even survive until the cheaters awaken—we'll face that prophecy first!"

Qiu Dugu's expression darkened, finally understanding the gravity of the issue.

Someone was sent to arrange and present the demands for the general assembly; it was approved unanimously in no time.

The highest-level meeting, concerning Jianghai City and the safety of the world, officially began.

"Why has it come to this!" The first words were a blunt, furious accusation.

"Qingshui Branch Director, Sign Chairman, you owe us an explanation."

Sign Chairman wiped away sweat and explained the entire sequence of events.

"It's accelerated too much… Even if we lock down now, the Deviation Line can't be pulled back."

"The damage is done—punishment can wait. First, handle the crisis!"

"How do we handle this? All our regional branches are still in Phase Two—we haven't even moved the thirty branches to the provincial capitals for stationing, and now the acceleration has caught us completely off guard!"

Jianghai City is the origin of everything in Huaguo, the most core region.

All resources are concentrated in Jianghai City.

Jianghai City's Joint Council is divided into thirty branches, each corresponding to one of the nation's thirty provinces!

The plan was meant to proceed step by step, but this stage hasn't yet reached deploying the thirty branches to the provinces.

Now, with things turned this way, we must accelerate our synchronization.

Sign Chairman's Qingshui Branch actually corresponds to Hai Yu Province's provincial capital.

If we execute the plan now, he must lead everyone to relocate to Hai Yu City for stationing.

But this was supposed to be the final deployment step, undertaken only after full preparations.

"Enough, stop arguing—first contain the crisis, minimize the spread of influence. Then suppress the Deviation Line as much as possible. Finally, initiate the 【Separation Plan】 ahead of schedule."

The Separation Plan is the provincial-correspondence plan just mentioned.

The ten titans, representing the pinnacle of Joint Council authority, cast varying degrees of blame toward Sign Chairman, this minor regional chair.

"Sign Chairman, if humanity perishes because of this, if civilization ends, your guilt will be beyond redemption for eternity!"

"Hmph! Had we not been in desperate need of personnel and the plan already compressed beyond further revision, I would have stripped you of your cultivation today, you brainless fool!"

The ten elders ended the meeting and issued orders to those below.

Doo-doo-doo-doo—

Soon after, alarm sirens blared simultaneously across every city in Huaguo, unceasingly.

Sign Chairman returned to Qingshui District with his orders.

"Sign Chairman…"

Qiu Dugu, waiting at home, hurried forward as the director returned.

"Above has decided to initiate the 【Separation Plan】 early. Pass the word down, and… have you caught the one causing this?"

"Caught him. Used a cursed artifact, so his own hacking defenses couldn't hold."

Sign Chairman sneered: "Do we not have cursed artifacts too? They're just useless! Squeeze every last bit of information out of him, find the mastermind, then kill him."

"... Yes!"

Qiu Dugu departed, his heart heavy.

He could sense the air of a storm about to break.

Turmoil… is about to begin!

As he passed a room, Qiu Dugu stopped.

He gently knocked on the door.

Creak.

The door opened, revealing Yuan Jie, eyes red, face gaunt with dark circles.

"Qiu Captain…"

Qiu Dugu sighed: "Miss Yuan, you need to step out. Bai Xiaoya's death was an accident—none of us expected her to die in the game and have her heart stop in reality. Fang Yue couldn't save her and is now desperately training inside the game, consumed by guilt. You need to move on too… life is impermanent…"

Yuan Jie burst into tears again, in agony: "I know, I know Xiaoya is dead, I know no one's to blame—it's too dangerous in the game, the weirdness killed her—but if only I hadn't urged her to buy the Game Watch, maybe none of this would've happened."

No…

Everyone unwilling to enter the game will soon face far more terrifying things…

Qiu Dugu said nothing more, patted Yuan Jie's shoulder, urged her to find peace, then went about his duties.

As Qiu Dugu left and reached the ground floor, he ran into Yingjie, who went by Coffee.

Qiu Dugu and she had poor chemistry; he pretended not to see her and moved to pass.

"Qiu Dugu!"

"... What?"

"I heard the Separation Plan is being prepared—what about the players we've arrested and locked up?"

"Take them along. If they cooperate, they'll become vital combat assets… if they survive."

…

The game forum exploded.

Players frantically tried to post, only to find they couldn't post anything. They tried using the in-site friend system, but it was set to mute as well.

Using other social apps, anything mentioning the game "Blue Sea" was treated like a sensitive word and simply couldn't be posted.

In the end, they could only discuss the matter through their phones with friends in real life.

But before long, the content of their conversations was detected by their phones, and people were quickly sent over and locked in a prison cell.

Jing Yan, you've got company.

……

"Oh f*ck! You, you don't look at me, I'm taking a sh*t! I'm taking a sh*t!"

Jing Yan frantically wiped his backside, covering himself everywhere.

But Yingjie just looked at him with contempt.

"You, what's that look in your eyes? I suspect you're dirty-minded!"

"Don't talk nonsense. I've arranged a roommate for you, get along well."

It's over……

Boom— Jing Yan felt he had fallen victim to Murphy's Law: the worst possible thing would definitely happen.

He was going to have to live in a tiny cell with no privacy at all, together with other people!

I can't even get enough to eat, which is miserable enough, and now I couldn't even keep my last single-occupancy cell……

Jing Yan's face turned ashen, and he was utterly Zhenjiu.

Watching Yingjie stuff two people in like some kind of strongman, tossing two unconscious Pangzi in one-handed, Jing Yan wailed: "Yingjie! Coffee! Don't do this, I beg you! At least give me a single room!! Pangzi's farts stink!"

"I'm the one whose husband is Pangzi, and you fart stinks! You keep talking and I'll sew your mouth shut!"

Jing Yan quickly shut his mouth, mumbling, wearing a mask of agony as he looked pleadingly at Coffee.

"No deal. Come talk terms with me when your game character enters Martial Dao."

(End of this chapter)